China lands on moon, kicks off next lunar space race

Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University in Washington DC, is sceptical that a private company will be able to raise the money needed to put together such a massive project. Still, he agrees that mining fuel from the moon makes sense, and he notes that most of the world's space agencies, with the exception of the US, want to send astronauts to the moon.

Once again China may be leading the renewed charge, with a potential human mission that could take place after 2025. "I personally believe that this is the beginning of the epoch of the permanent stay of humans on the moon," says Mitrofanov.

Update:This story has been updated since it was first published on 13 December 2013 to include subsequent events.

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